Amid Amit Shah's close door meeting with Telugu leaders, Jagan meets PM Modi

Delhi: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S Jagan Mohan Reddy met Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the latter's residence on 22 August and discussed several key issues related to the state, including the Polavaram project, compensating resource gap funds, beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act, arrears from Telangana Discoms to the state, and Special Category status among others.

Polavaram project

Jagan requested the Prime Minister's help in completing the Polavaram project at the earliest and urged him to approve the revised cost estimates of Rs. 55,548.87 crores that have been approved by the technical advisory committee. The CM asked Mr. Modi to reimburse Rs. 2,900 crores which were spent by the state government on the Polavaram project and requested him to clear the bills fortnightly as is done in the case of other national projects and not component-wise.

Further, Jagan asked Mr. Modi to allot Rs. 10,000 crores on an ad hoc basis so that the construction works of the project can proceed smoothly. He appealed to provide R&R packages to displaced families under DBT (direct bank transfers) mode to ensure transparency. He also asked the Prime Minister to release funds of Rs. 32,625 crores under Resource Gap Fund for various pending bills under the 10th Pay Commission, including social security pensions and others during the period 2014-15.

National Food Security Act

Jagan said that due to the lack of rationalization in the selection of eligible persons under the National Food Security Act, the state is suffering serious losses. A large number of needy and deserving persons were uncovered. "The state government is providing rations to 2.68 crore beneficiaries, of which 61% are from rural areas and 41% from urban areas. As per the law, 75% of people in rural areas and 50% in urban areas should get benefits under PDS," said Jagan.

He added that states like Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Gujarat, which are economically better than Andhra Pradesh, have almost 10% more beneficiaries than AP due to which the state government is providing ration to the 56 lakhs leftover eligible beneficiaries shouldering an additional burden of Rs. 5,527.63 crores. Jagan said NITI Aayog has already met the state government officials and informed the Central government to revise the data in this regard and reminded the Prime Minister that the allocations to Andhra Pradesh should be examined.

He explained to the Prime Minister that 3 lakh tonnes of the rice quota allotted to the state every month remains unutilised, and asked him to allocate only 77,000 tonnes which will be sufficient for distribution without causing any additional burden on the Centre.

Special Category status

Discussing the promises given during state bifurcation, Jagan said there was no rationality behind the bifurcation because of which the state suffered a lot. He requested the Prime Minister to fulfill the promises given as a parliamentary witness, including Special Category status. He said that special class status will boost the growth in the industrial sector, job creation, grants from the Centre, and tax concessions, thereby reducing the burden on the state.

APGENCO's unpaid arrears

On the long-pending arrear of Rs. 6,756 crores receivable by the Andhra Pradesh Generation Corporation Limited (APGENCO) from the Telangana government, Jagan requested the Prime Minister to direct the authorities concerned to settle the dues at the earliest so that the state power sector can be financially strengthened.

Medical colleges & mining approval

The CM also sought approvals for setting up another 12 medical colleges in the state to cater to 26 districts. In regard to setting up an integrated steel plant in the YSR district, he requested the allocation of iron mines to APMDC to operate the plant. He said the allocation of mines is very important for setting up a steel plant that enables the stable transport of ore.

Later, Jagan asked the Prime Minister to give approvals to allot beach sand minerals to Andhra Pradesh Mineral Development Corporation which could attract investments of Rs. 20,000 crores. He said that 14 approvals are pending.